While the United States continues to recover from the 2008 Great Recession, the country still faces unprecedented inequality as increasing numbers of poor families struggle to get by with little assistance from the government. Holes in the Safety Net: Federalism and Poverty offers a grounded look at how states and the federal government provide assistance to poor people. With chapters covering everything from welfare reform to recent efforts by states to impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients, the book avoids unnecessary jargon and instead focuses on how programs operate in practice. This timely work should be read by anyone who cares about poverty, rising inequality, and the relationship between state, local, and federal levels of government.

• Emphasizes how programs work in the real world to appeal to those interested in how programs impact people, avoiding overly academic theoretical discussions
• Grounded in the relationship between states and the federal government for those interested in antipoverty work at both the federal and state levels
• Connects past policies with current proposals to undermine the safety net to address concerns about rising inequality and interest in poor communities